What Happens on Vacation
by AnimeTookMySoul
Summary: After doing countless of missions, team Natsu decides it's time for a well-deserved vacation (plus they have the extra cash). However, when the rest of the guild hears of this, they decide to follow suit! What they thought would just sun, sand and fun ended up being much, much more. NaLu fanfic, with some Gruvia, Jurza, GaLe.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

"NATSU! YOU OVER DID IT AGAIN!" Lucy shouted at the fire dragon slayer as they watched half of the town they were in fall to ashes and rubble.

 _~3 hours earlier~_

It was a sunny, peaceful day in Fiore. That morning, team Natsu decided to take on a job from the request board. As it was Happy's turn, the feline had decided to take the job with the highest jewel count; at 500,000J, the mission was to capture a band of thieves that were terrorising a port village on the eastern coast. At first the gang thought that the blue haired cat had chosen the job for the money; that was until they realised that he had an ulterior motive. "The town is supposed to hold the _hugest_ fish in all of Fiore! They're so big that just one could fill up this carriage!" Happy exclaimed excitedly to the others as the train they were one rolled through the country to their destination. "And they're supposed to be _super tasty!_ Just thinking of them is making me drool…" and sure enough, the cat had spit hanging from the corner of his mouth, the liquid almost touching the floor of the train. "Hey, Happy? Can you stop all this talk about fish? It's making me feel-" Natsu started to say before closing his mouth tight with his hands as his whole face turned a violent shade of green. Lucy, who had been gazing out of the window whilst Happy gave his non-stop speech on fish like always, looked over to her partner, sighing in both sympathy and annoyance. _Every time he goes on a vehicle, his motion sickness seems to just get worse_ Lucy thought as she watched Natsu jump up and run for the outdoor compartment, albeit swaying in the process, making his already green face go greener if possible. She kept on staring even after Natsu had disappeared behind the compartment door, biting her lower lip lightly; even after all this time, she still worried about him when he was in this state; she hated seeing him like this. Even as she stared, she could sense a pair of eyes staring into the back of her head. Turning around, Lucy realised it was Happy staring at her. "Hey, Lucy?" Happy asked her as she focused her attention on him. "Yeah, Happy?" she asked.

"Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Stare at Natsu when he goes to be sick?"

Lucy paused for a moment, trying to come up with a plausible answer. In retrospect she only ever did it out of concern for her partner, but there was something deeper to it she knew, but just couldn't put her finger on it. "I just worry about him, is all. It's still weird to see him so weak and defenceless like this when normally he's rampaging through the streets trying to pick fights with everyone." Lucy settled for this answer, feeling like it expressed her concern enough.

"Hey, Lucy?" Happy asked again.

"Yeah?"

"You liiiiiiiike him," the cat sniggered.

"Shut it, cat. Or you'll end up looking like Natsu's insides when I'm through with you"

"But, Lucy, how do you know what Natsu's insides look like?"

"Let's find out, shall we?" Lucy replied maliciously as she took a swing at the cat.

"AAAAAAHHHHH! LUCY, PLEASE! I'M TOO CUTE TO DIE!"

* * *

Two hours later and the train had finally stopped in its final station, which also happened to be the teams' destination. "Come on, Natsu. The trains not even moving!" Lucy huffed at her partner who clung on weakly to the rail that had been his friend for the last part of the journey, as he had clung on to it for dear life whilst he watched his breakfast make its reappearance; 17 servings of bacon, eggs and sausages was never a good idea, especially before going on a vehicle. "I can't help it. My head's spinning. Are you sure we've stopped?" Natsu asked in a pathetic, feeble voice which sounded so much smaller to the usual boastful Natsu. "I'm sure. Now get off, or we're leaving without you," Lucy replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's no need to be so mean, Lucy," Natsu muttered as he slowly crawled off the train onto the platform. The fire dragon-slayer rested there on the cool, grey, concrete platform as he waited for the spinning to stop, which didn't take long; in a matter of minutes, Natsu was back on his feet with his usual mischievous grin plastered on his face. Bumping his fists together, he said "alright! Who's up for grabbing something to eat?"

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed a bit too enthusiastically. Lucy could tell that the cat was already thinking off fish again. _Does that cat ever think of anything else?_ Lucy wondered to herself as she followed her two teammates, trusting on their acute sense of smell to guide them to a decent place to eat. She had to admit that she was feeling a bit peckish herself so didn't argue with them like she usually did. Not even five minutes later and they were at a quaint little café that faced the sea shoreline. It was a little beaten up in parts, some damp planks needed to be replaced and the peeling paint could use a new coat, but other than that the place seemed nice and peaceful: perfect for something to eat. As soon as they crossed the thresh way, multiple mouth-watering scents hit their noses. From the spiciness of soups, to the sweetness of cakes, the individual scents intertwined with one another to create one big overwhelming smell that hypnotised the trio further into the café. The three were so focused on trying to decipher each scent that they could smell that they didn't even notice the waitress that stood in front of them. "Welcome to Marigold Café. Table for 3?" the waitress asked a warm smile on her face. Startled, it took all of them a moment to realise what she had said. The waitress was a busty brunette, her locks tied up in a loose, messy bun; frizz was flying all over her head. Her face was plastered with make-up, giving her a cartoon-like appearance. Although she was small in height, she was quite curvaceous even though some would describe her as plump. There was nothing about the woman that screamed danger so the three calmed down quickly, before Lucy finally replied to the question the waitress had asked. "Um, yes please," she said timidly.

"Right this way, then," the waitress replied, and led the trio to a round table seated next to one of the front windows. They had a clear view of the sea-line as well as a glimpse of the port below. The sun was high in the sky providing enough light to light up the inside of the café. Natsu, Lucy and Happy took their designated seats at the table as the waitress passed each of them a menu before leaving back into the kitchen.

"Whilst we have this time, let's go over the mission," Lucy said, placing the menu on the table. Natsu took out the poster and handed it to Lucy. "We're supposed to capture this band of thieves known as the SettŌ Bandits. Apparently they've been causing havoc by stealing the ports fishing supplies and damaging the boats," Lucy read out. Along with the information, the poster provided mug shots of some of the members of the SettŌ Bandits; none of them would be on Lucy's 'perfect boyfriend' list any time soon. Each of them looked like rats, which fitted their characters well, as they were described as vermin several times in the poster by the mayor of the town, Mayor Nori, who was the person that had put up the request. One of the males had a rather noticeable and hideous mole on the right side of his nose, big bunny-like teeth, and what looked like whiskers. Lucy handed the poster back to Natsu who looked at the pictures of the bandits. "Man, they're ugly," he said before stuffing the poster back into his backpack. There was a comfortable moment of silence between them all when the waitress brought over a jug of water and 3 glasses. "Complimentary water as a taken for choosing our café as your choice of eatery," the waitress explained at their looks of confusion. As she walked away, Lucy gladly took the jug and filled each of their glasses with the clear liquid. Instead of drinking it however, Lucy played with the quickly forming condensation that was sliding down the side of the glass. "After we've finished here, we'd best go to the customer before looking for the bandits. If we get the job done quickly, we might be able to catch the last train back to Magnolia. But just in case, we should look for a hotel for the night," Lucy said to the two, who both nodded in agreement.

Once again the silence from before fell across them as they all thought about various things. It was evident that Happy was probably thinking of the fish he was going to eat. Smiling to herself, Lucy turned her gaze from Happy and Natsu to look outside the window. It was a beautiful, sunny day. The sea was still other than the few ripples created by the moving ships; seagulls were soaring through the air gracefully, looking down to the port in the hopes of scavenging fish parts; townsfolk were strolling along the street outside the café. However, one character took Lucy's eye in particular. A shady looking figure, with his identity concealed under a brown, shabby hood was loitering around one of the stalls which were selling various fishing supplies. The figure seemed to be waiting for the stall keeper to look away; this was very suspicious.

"Earth to Lucy. Hellooo," Nastu said, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Huh?" Lucy replied, startled, as she looked back to Natsu and Happy.

"Did you even hear what we said?" Natsu asked her, slight annoyance visible in his facial features.

"No, sorry. What did you say?" Lucy glanced out of the corner of her eye to look at the figure, who had not moved since she first looked away.

"We were going to order, but we needed to know what you wanted," Happy said to Lucy. "Lucy? Hey!"

"Huh? Sorry," Lucy muttered again. As Happy spoke to her, she noticed movement out of the corner of her. She looked over to the figure again but he had disappeared from his spot. She noticed that the stall keeper was shouting angrily towards someone who was causing a ruckus, shoving people as they past. As the person bumped into someone, his hood fell off and the box he had in his hands dropped to the floor. Lucy suddenly got a good glimpse of the persons face and was surprised she recognised them, even though she wasn't sure where, though you'd have to be blind to have not remembered such a large mole, big teeth and- the penny suddenly dropped in her head as she made the link; it was one of the guys on the wanted poster: he was from the SettŌ Bandits. Without thinking, Lucy stood up; knocking over the still full glass of water that she had forgotten was in her hands.

"Hey! What was that for? You got my scarf all wet," Natsu complained.

"My fur too," Happy moaned quickly after.

"It's one of the bandits from the poster. Looks like he's stolen something from that stall," Lucy pointed at both the fish supply stall and where the bandit was. However the bandit had managed to pull back up his hood and pick up the box and was already on the move once more, this time cutting down a side street. "Come on!" Lucy said before running out the café, past the startled waitress that had served them.

"But I wanted fish," Happy complained sadly with a glum look, his belly rumbling in disappointment.

"Looks like the fish will have to wait, Happy," Natsu said to his feline friend, sympathising with him with a rather loud grumble from his own stomach. He was running on empty since the train had made him puke up his big breakfast. "Come on, Happy."

"Aye, sir," Happy replied before the two followed Lucy's golden locks bobbing through the crowd. "Wait up, Lucy!"

* * *

Natsu and Happy were barely keeping up with their blonde comrade. _When she wants to run, she really runs_ Natsu thought to himself as he tried to catch up to Lucy. It was only when they had been running for what felt like twenty minutes straight when the two males finally caught a glimpse of the figure Lucy was running amok after. The figures hood had long since fallen off, it seemed, and he wasn't wasting time to put it back up. When the figure looked back round, Natsu saw his eye widen in horror when he saw how close Lucy was to him; but it wasn't his look of terror that made Natsu scrunch his face, but the guys face itself. He really was one ugly figure; the guys features made him look more rat than human. Natsu recognised the guy from the poster; now knowing who it was that he was giving chase to, Natsu's pace quickened until not a minute later, he was running side by side with Lucy, Happy trying to keep up with them from above.

Turning his attention from his comrades to the guy, he barely registered the line of washing in front of him before he crashed into a red bed cover, some overly large floral under garments, and a very pink brazier clinging strong to his head. He heard the stifled laughs coming from next to him and turned his head to look at Lucy, annoyance clearly visible on his face; he didn't need a mirror to guess he looked idiotic. But what really made him mad was when he heard the guy in front laugh at him. "ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?!" Natsu yelled at the guy, before his whole body lit up in flames, the various items of clothing disintegrating from the heat. The bandit's eyes widened in shock and horror once more before he ran harder and faster through the street they were all running down, passers-by jumping to the sides to avoid collision. They had run to the other side of the town, far away from the sea. This side of town was much less crowded and more peaceful, no shops or stalls here, just rundown houses, flats and the odd pub. In fact the whole area seemed abandoned. "STOP RUNNING SO I CAN BEAT YOU UP!" Natsu continued yelling at the bandit's back.

"I don't think that's going to work, Natsu," Happy said overhead, breathlessly. Looking up, Natsu noticed beads of sweat on the feline's forehead as he strained his wings to keep up with them. He felt sorry for Happy, knowing that he was almost at his limit. It was this that gave Natsu his second wind. But when he turned around, he barely saw the bandits' hood run into a small, dark building. As the trio came closer to the building, they could hear a croaky, hoarse, male voice yell from within. "WHY DID YOU LEAD THEM HERE?! YOU IDIOT!" It was clear that the guy they had been chasing was being yelled at, and at a guess, the three of them easily concluded to themselves that this was probably the bandit's hideout. Wasting no time, Natsu kicked the door down before walking into the building. It was dimly lit by candles precariously spread around the room. There were about a dozen men here, all with looks of surprise and shock at the cherry-pink haired guy.

As Natsu took slow, intimidating steps further into the room, each bandit's expression turned from shock to fear. They were all frozen in their spots, just staring as they waited for Natsu to make a move. "Huh, so who's first?" Natsu asked the room as he bumped his fists together, each lighting on fire. As soon as they saw the flames, the room went from still silence to wild havoc as each bandit ran in search of a means of escape from the fire dragon-slayer. "Hehe, this is going to be fun," Natsu said before grabbing wildly for his first victim.

As Natsu beat each and every bandit to a pulp, all Lucy and Happy could do was watch their teammate as bodies went flying across the room, breaking tables and windows. Some of the tables that had been broken and knocked over still had lit candles; the building was made out of wood; soon enough the inside of the room quickly caught on fire. Lucy ran out the quickly burning building, grabbing Happy who hadn't noticed the fire, but rather was concentrating on cheering Natsu as if the scene in front was just a game of wrestling. "GO NATS- hey, Lucy!" the cat whined as Lucy took him outside of the building. Once outside, Lucy saw that the building was almost completely aflame. She knew that Natsu would be fine, but the bandits weren't flame-proof like him. However, before she could worry, the bandits were jumping out of the broken windows and the door to avoid catching on fire, Natsu quickly following behind them, sucking in flames as he moved. "Aw yeah, now I've got a fire in my belly!" Natsu exclaimed as he looked for his next victim. Noticing a long and lanky fellow trying to run down the street, Natsu ran after him, Happy, who had managed to get out of Lucy's bear hold following. Meanwhile, running in the opposite direction was the original bandit that the trio had been chasing, Lucy noticed. Wasting no time, Lucy ran after him. She was quickly upon him and before he even had a chance to take in what was happening, Lucy gave him a well-deserved Lucy Kick to the backside. The guy fell face first and skidded along the floor. When he groggily looked up, his face was scraped and bruised and his nose was crooked, his hideous mole covering his vision in his right eye. Nevertheless, the bandit feebly clung on to the box that he had stolen from the fish stall guy, looking up at Lucy, whose whip was in her hand. "Pl-please! Don't hurt m-me," the guy whimpered to her, but Lucy just drew closer. The bandit quickly took something from his pocket, causing Lucy to lift her whip high in to the air, waiting for an attack. "W-wait! Y-you wouldn't hit a g-guy with g-glasses, w-would you?" He said as he shoved a pair of glasses onto his face, the lens in his left eye already cracked from his fall. The feeble attempt to stop Lucy just annoyed her even more. _This guy is such a wimp_ Lucy thought to herself before cracking her whip menacingly at the guy. "Please! I'm too beautiful to die!" It was this remark that caused Lucy to finally attack, landing a punch squarely in the bandit's face, his nose more crooked and broken than it was before, one of his buck teeth flying out of his mouth. "You wouldn't know what beauty was, even if it struck you in the face," Lucy muttered, even though she knew that there was no point as the guy was obviously out cold. Lucy wiped of the grime and blood off her fist on the bandits hood before tying him up, using her whip as an alternative to rope. Content in thinking the guy wasn't going to get out of her knots any time soon, Lucy picked up the box before standing up and turning around to see how Natsu was doing. However, what Lucy wasn't expecting to see was half the town on fire, fire of which had been caused by Natsu, who was breathing his flames aimlessly as the bandits, who kept on dodging his fire. Although the bandits weren't roasting, the buildings that were taking the full blast of Natsu's flames definitely were. The scene in front of Lucy caused her jaw to drop comically to the ground, her eyes also popping out of her head. _There goes my rent money_ Lucy sighed to herself before running towards her comrade, her fist clenched.

Natsu, it seemed had given up on spewing flames everywhere, going back to brute force. By the time Lucy got to him, Natsu had captured the rest of the bandits, who all lay battered and bruised in a bloody pile. "Oh there you are, Luc- OW! What was that for?!" Natsu complained, rubbing the spot on his head that Lucy had just whacked. "NATSU! YOU OVER DID IT AGAIN!" Lucy shouted at the fire dragon slayer. "Wha-?" Natsu replied before looking at the town, half of which had been transformed into burning red, orange and yellow torches. "Oh, crap. My bad. I'll get rid of the fire." Natsu moved towards a nearby burning building and inhaled deeply, the fire flying into his mouth. A few minutes later and the fire had be extinguished, evident from the smoke coming of the burnt black and crumbling buildings, as well as Natsu's very big and full belly.

"I wonder how much reward money we'll have after we pay for the damages," Lucy said sadly, already counting in her head how much the damage was going to cost them and the guild. "Well, we should probably go and take these bandits to the mayor of this town and let him decide what to do with them," she sighed before going back to grab the bandit she had caught, whilst Natsu dealt with the others.

It didn't take the gang long to find that mayors home; being a very large pristine, white building, it stood out in the town. Once inside the building, the trio waited as the butler went to get the mayor from his study. A few minutes later and the butler came back along with a squat man with a very curly moustache and a wispy brown quiff brushed atop his head, a monocle over his right eye, and a very expensive looking suit with a tail coat that brushed the floor. "Ah, you must be the Fairy Tail members that took up my request. Thank you so much for that. Now I hear you've caught the devious SettŌ Bandits, yes?" he asked, adjusting his monocle as he looked at the pile of bandits on his floor. "It looks like they won't be doing any evil deeds any time soon. Good job. Now about payment," the mayor started, but Lucy quickly intervened here. "We are so sorry, Mayor Nori. The fire damage to the northern part of town was entirely our fault," Lucy bowed to the Mayor, before looking over at Natsu with an annoyed expression; it seemed whenever he caused damages, she was always the one that was apologising. "What? What happened to the northern part of town?" the mayor asked quizzically.

Lucy bit her lower lip before saying, in a rushed manner, "during our fight with the SettŌ bandits, one of us, " Lucy quickly gave Natsu another dark look, "used fire magic to stop the bandits but accidently caused all of the buildings to catch on fire. There's nothing left to salvage really." The last sentence came out a bit quieter than the rest of her short speech, as Lucy remembered just how bad the damage was.

"Is that so?" the mayor asked, his face expressionless. Instead of replying, Lucy just nodded her already lowered head. "Oh! Thank you so much! You don't know how much this helps me!" The mayor said happily, clapping his hands together. This remark caused Lucy's head to snap back up. She looked confused, which the mayor noticed so quickly explained. "The northern side of the town is all ruins, and the buildings were in need of being knocked down so new ones could be built. We were going to have builders come to come do the job, but it looks like they won't need to come now." At this, Lucy couldn't help but sigh in relief; she would still have her rent money. The land lady wouldn't be trying to get her head on a spike any time soon. "Well, I must reward you for helping me out with my rebuilding predicament, oh, and the bandits of course. Let's see… ah, I'll pay you the original reward, plus the jewels I would have paid the builders. How does that sound?"

* * *

"ONE MILLION JEWELS!" Lucy shouted with joy as the trio got on to the last train back home. "I won't have to worry about rent money for months!" Lucy exclaimed before dropping down into her seat by the window, Natsu sitting in the seat opposite, whilst Happy sat next to him. Natsu was starting to look a little green as he waited for the train to start, but that didn't stop the smile on his face.

The mayor had given them the 500,000J for capturing the bandits, but then gave them the same amount again for burning the buildings, making their overall reward total up to 1,000,000J. "You burning stuff down came into our favour for once huh, Natsu?" Happy purred happily as he munched down on a fish he had been given; on their way to the train, the trio gave the box that the original bandit had stolen back to the fish stall guy. He was so happy when the team brought back his box that he gave them a crate full of fish "on the house" he had said. Needless to say, Happy kept the crate; there was less than half of the original amount left, but the cat had been starving so it wasn't much of a surprise. The five minute warning call from the speakers sounded, telling everyone that the train would be departing soon.

"Hey Natsu, what are you going to do with you part of the reward?" Lucy asked to distract him from his thoughts of the train moving. "Uh, not sure," Natsu replied.

"Hey, guys?" Happy asked the other two.

"Yeah?" they replied.

"What if we went on vacation for a little while?"

Both Natsu and Lucy had to pause for a moment. True, it had been a long while since they all went anywhere just for pleasure instead of work, and they could do with a break from missions; they had been on non-stop missions for the last few months, so a vacation would be good on all of their bones. Plus with all of the money they now had, not only from this mission but from previous missions too, they could easily afford to go on a nice long holiday.

"You know what? That sounds like a great idea, Happy," Natsu said, his smile spreading even further as he began to think of going somewhere warm and sunny and Gray-free.

"Yeah. Mavis knows we could all do with a break," Lucy added.

"So it's decided. When we get back, team Natsu is going on vacation!" Natsu said, jumping out of his chair, fist raised in the air.

" _The train is now departing on its journey back to Magnolia. Please stay seated and have a pleasant journey,"_ the speakers said as the train began to move.

"Uh-oh," Natsu said as his face went a solid green, his hands tight over his mouth as he ran straight for the outdoor compartment once more.

 _Every time_ Lucy sighed, watching Natsu go.

* * *

 **Next chapter:** _the gang arrive back in Magnolia with their reward money. The guild hears about their decision to go on vacation, and some of them like the idea so decide to go with them. How will team Natsu react to this?_

Hi everyone!

So this is my very first fan fiction that I have successfully published. I hope that you enjoyed the first chapter. I know that it's a little slow going, but trust me, it's worth the wait! I wanted to have NaLu happen gradually over the story, so don't expect much shipping for the first few chapters. As this is the first chapter, I wanted to get the story started and get the layout sorted for the rest of the story, which is why the chapter is so long. I don't know if all of my other chapters are going to be as long, but knowing me they probably will. If you liked chapter 1, a review would be most appreciated! Any criticism is welcome as well. Mavis knows there is always room for improvement. Chapter 2 will be out as soon as I've finished writing it, so hopefully you won't have to wait too long.

Thanks for reading!

AnimeTookMySoul


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

The next day, Lucy walked into the guild and automatically went to the bar, expecting to see Natsu and Happy shoving mounds upon mounds of Mira's delicious food into their mouths. What she had not expected was for the two to be absent from their usual seats; instead, Macao and Wakaba were sitting in the two reserved seats, discussing whatever it was they usually spoke about. Lucy looked around the rest of the guild, wondering if Natsu was trying to pick a fight as usual, or if Happy was bugging Charle like normal. After a quick glance though, it seemed that neither of them had arrived yet. _Strange_ Lucy thought, _then again I am early this morning._ True, Lucy had woken up considerably earlier than she normally would; she didn't know why she had, though it could have been to do with the excitement she was feeling about going on vacation today. Yesterday, on the train ride home, the trio had decided to go to Akane Resort for their vacation; they hadn't been there since to Tower of Heaven incident, and although their holiday had been cut short, the three of them agreed that it would be the best place to spend some time away from the guild.

Although Natsu and Happy were not there, Lucy went over to the bar nevertheless to say good morning to Mira, who was, as always, cleaning dirty cups and glasses. "Hey, Mira," Lucy said, waving over to Mira to get her attention.

"Oh, good morning, Lucy," Mira replied, one of her dazzling smiles spread across her face. "My, you're early this morning!" The clock behind the bar said that the time was only seven thirty.

"I couldn't get back to sleep so thought I'd get up and come down to the guild for a while before going back home to finish my packing," Lucy said as she sat down in the seat in front of Mira.

"Packing? Are you going on another mission?" Mira asked, putting the glass she was cleaning, and the rag she was cleaning it with, down on the counter.

"Actually, Natsu, Happy and I decided it was time that we had a break from doing missions and went on a vacation to Akane Resort," Lucy explained. Before Mira could reply, a voice from behind them sounded. "Wait, you're going on vacation?" Lucy turned around in her seat to see Gray, who had spoken, stand up from the table he was at and walk over to the girls in only his underwear. "Gray, your clothes," Cana, who was sat at a nearby table, said from behind her drink. "Ah!" Gray cried when he looked down at himself. After finding his clothing and putting it back on, Gray arrived at the bar and leant against the counter to face Lucy. "So you, Happy and that flame-brain are going on vacation, huh?"

"Yeah, well we've been doing a lot of missions recently and we've managed to get more than enough money, so we decided that it would do us good to have a break from work," Lucy said to Gray, and Mira who was also listening in.

"Huh. Well I have to admit that you guys have been non-stop with the missions lately. But so have I, and a vacation from missions does sound like a good idea… mind if I join you guys?" As Lucy was about to reply to Gray's question, a very loud and mighty voice shouted from the entrance of the guild. "Like heck are you coming with us, Gray!" It was Natsu that had shouted the statement, obviously hearing the conversation. He stomped over to the bar, Happy flying next to him, before his face was in Grays'. "Oh yeah? And why not?" Gray shouted back, his forehead smacking into Natsu's.

"Because I said so, ice princess!"

"Yeah? Well you're not the boss of me, flame breath, so I'm going whether you like it or not!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"That's it! I'm taking you down, droopy eyes!"

"Bring it on, idiot!"

"Who are you calling and idiot, idiot?!"

"You, ya dummy!"

Instead of continuing the name calling, Natsu, who always believe that actions spoke louder than words, took a swing at Gray, who had already thrown off his shirt. Before anyone could do anything, the two were beating each other up, crashing into tables and other guild members. Lucy sighed as she watched to two go at it for a moment before turning back around in her seat to face Mira. "Why do they have to start fighting so early?" Lucy moaned, putting her head on the counter.

"You know those two. Boys will be boys," Mira said, patting the blondes head sympathetically. Lucy stayed like that for a while. Eventually she lifted her head to check the time; it was half past eight. "Well, I should probably go get the rest of my packing done. Happy, tell Natsu that I'll meet you guys at the station, okay?" she said to the feline who agreed to the request, before looking over her shoulder to see where Natsu was; him and Gray were still at it, but a few more of the male guild members had joined in by this point. Getting out of her seat, Lucy looked back to Mira and said, "well, I'll see you when I get back from vacation," before walking away from the bar and out of the guild, avoiding the mass of men fighting as tables and chairs flew all over the place.

On her way back home, Lucy saw Levy, who was nose deep in a book, walking towards her and the guild. "Hey, Levy!" Lucy called out to her friend. Looking up with a slightly startled expression, Levy waved back at Lucy as she quickened her pace, quickly closing the large gap between them. "Hey, Lu, you alright? I hadn't realised how quickly I had gotten to the guild," Levy said to Lucy once she stopped walking.

"Well, when you're distracted you don't realise what you're doing, especially with books," Lucy smiled knowingly. "What book are you reading anyway?" Lucy asked, tilting her head to the side to try and read the title of the book Levy held loosely to her side.

"Oh this? It's just another romance novel. I found it displayed in a shop window and it piqued. I think you'd enjoy it, if you want to borrow it when I've finished?" Levy offered, holding the book out so Lucy could have a look at it.

"You know I'm a sucker for romance novels," Lucy replied as she read the blurb on the back before turning it over to look at the front cover; the book itself was a mixture of red and pale gold, with gold writing embroidered on the front and spine. There was no main image, although there was a pink heart below the title, which was 'A Fateful Encounter." Lucy inwardly cringed as she remembered the day when she first saw this book. Even though that was one of the most confusing and horrifying days of her life, Lucy had still wanted to read the book.

"Well, I'm almost done with it, so I'll come by your house when I've finished," Levy said, taking back the book, once again holding it loosely to her side. Knowing the speed that Levy read at, Lucy could tell that her friend would have finished the book in the next day or so. "Well, if you finish before the end of the week, I won't be home for a while. Me, Happy and Natsu are going on vacation to Akane Resort. We thought that it was about time we took a break from missions," Lucy said.

"Oh, a vacation sounds so good! I could really go for one around now," Levy said a hint of envy in her voice. At this, Lucy had an idea. "Say, why don't you come with us? I think Gray's coming now too, and I don't want to be stuck on vacation with just the guys, I mean, you know what kind of things they'd get up to. And it'd mean the two of us could spend some girl time together. It seems like we haven't hung out together for forever," Lucy said, her eyes popping at the idea. Sure it was nice hanging out with the guys, but they could be a handful at the best of times; sometimes it felt like she was just babysitting them, what with their childish behaviour. Having another female around would be good. _Although I imagine since Gray's coming, Juvia will probably come too_ Lucy thought. Although Lucy did like Juvia, sometimes she could be as much of a handful as Natsu, Gray and Happy, with her constant 'love rival' antics.

"Hmm, well I have been saving up for a holiday for a while now so I should have enough money. And a holiday really does sound like a lot of fun, especially with you, Lu," Levy said, pausing for a moment as she tallied up the pros and cons of going before finally coming up with her decision. "Okay, I'll come! I'll go to the guild quickly to let Jet and Droy know I'm going, and I guess Gajeel too if he's there, then I'll go home and pack. Where should I meet you?" Levy asked excitement clearly visible on her face.

"Meet us at the train station in two hours," Lucy said. She felt her smile widen now that she knew Levy would be joining them on their vacation.

"Sounds great! Okay, well I'd best get to the guild. I'll see you then, Lu," Levy said, already rushing towards the guild excitedly. Lucy smiled at Levy as she watched her friend disappear behind the guilds wooden doors before continuing her walk back home. _I wonder which bikini I should pack…_

* * *

Nearly two hours later and Lucy was on her way to the train station, her red suitcase which she usually used for missions trailing behind her full of her clothing; it had taken both her and Virgo to successfully close the suitcase, as Lucy tried to cram too many items of clothing inside of it. From where she was now, she was about a five minute walk away from the train station when she noticed the time on a clock in a shop window. It was a few minutes to ten thirty. _Crap, I'm going to be late_ Lucy realised before rushing the rest of the way to the station, her suitcase bumping on loose stones as it tried to keep up with her. She ran into the station and quickly found the platform that the train to Akane Resort would arrive in. When she arrived on the platform, she had expected to find Natsu, Happy, Gray, and Levy, _and Juvia, of course_ Lucy thought. What she hadn't expected was for Erza, Gajeel, Wendy, and Charle to be there as well. "Lucy, you're late," Erza said upon Lucy's arrival.

"What are you guys all doing here?" she asked the latter group, ignoring Erza's remark on her tardiness.

"We heard about you, Natsu and Happy going on vacation and decided that we should go too. I hope that's okay with you," Wendy said to Lucy, looking slightly worried in case it wasn't alright with the celestial spirit mage.

"Of course! The more the merrier," Lucy said, looking around at everyone. As her eyes fell on to Gajeel, she couldn't help but notice the absence of his feline partner. "Hey, Gajeel, how come Pantherlily's not here?" She asked the iron dragon-slayer, who looked like he couldn't be bothered with going on vacation. "Lily decided to go visit some exceed called Sam or something like that. Something to do with training," Gajeel grumbled in response. He didn't seem all too happy that his exceed had decided to train with someone else.

Not a moment later and their train pulled into the station. "Well, we should probably hop on and get our seats," Lucy said leading the party onto the train. The ten of them managed to bag a compartment to themselves; sat on one side was Lucy, Natsu, Grey, Erza, Happy, and Levy, whilst on the other side was Levy, Gajeel, Wendy, and Charle. Lucy was sat next to the window, Natsu sat next to her, and Happy on the other side of him; Gray and Erza occupied the seats opposite them. As soon as the train began to move, Lucy could see Natsu turning green from the corner of her eye. "Hey, Wendy? D'you think you can put that motion sickness spell on me?" Natsu asked with a feeble voice to the sky dragon-slayer. Wendy looked over to Natsu when the question was being directed to her. "I can try, but it hasn't worked the last few times," Wendy said as she stood up, looking slightly anxious; she hated when the spell didn't work because she always felt useless when her magic failed her. Leaning down in front of him, Wendy placed her hands on either side of Natsu's head as she cast the spell. It took a few moments before the glowing of the spell faded and Wendy lowered her hands. At first it looked like the spell had been successful, that was until Natsu's cheeks suddenly bulged as he tried to stop the vomit from spewing out of his mouth. "I'm sorry, Natsu. I don't know why it's not working on you anymore," Wendy said sadly, a glum look on her face as her spell had failed her yet again." "Don't look so down, child. It's not the spell that failed. He's had the spell casted on him so many times that his body has become immune to it," Charle said as Wendy came and sat back down in her seat.

Natsu didn't look happy at this, though it was difficult to tell how he was feeling from the sick look that was plastered on his face. However, it wasn't just Natsu that had gone green. "Hey, kid," Gajeel said to Wendy, catching her attention, "try that spell on me, would ya?" Wendy, who had never willingly spoken to Gajeel before, was startled by Gajeel, always thinking that he didn't know she existed. "Oh, um sure," she said timidly as she stood up and bent in front of the iron dragon-slayer. She cautiously placed her hands on either side of Gajeel's head, as if worried he would bite them off, and cast the spell. Once she had finished her casting, Gajeel looked immensely better than he had a few moments ago. "Thanks, kid," Gajeel said, placing a large hand onto her head, the action causing Wendy to squeak in surprise, her knees wobbling dangerously from the force of the pat as she tried but failed to stay standing. As she sat back down in her seat, Natsu whined, "that's not fair. How come it works on metal head over there, but not me?" This comment only received an exasperated sigh from Charle. "Honestly, were you not listening earlier?" the feline muttered under her breath, though loud enough so that the others could hear her.

"It looks like you are going to have to endure the trip with the motion sickness," Erza stated as she watched Natsu sink lower in his chair in front of her. "How long is this ride?" Natsu asked once he managed to stop the vomit from rising up once more.

"Four hours," Wendy said.

"Ugh. Why couldn't we have walked?" he said dejectedly as he slumped even further into his chair. This was going to be a long four hours for him.

* * *

Four hours and a boat ride later, the gang finally arrived at their haven for the next week: Akane Resort. The beautiful five-star hotel looked glorious in the slowly fading sunlight, the giant amusement park full of life, the huge sandy beach glowing next to the adjacent sea. "I forgot how stunning this place is!" Lucy exclaimed at the group moved its way towards the entrance to the hotel, all of their luggage attached to Erza's Wagon cart, as the re-quip mage had insisted on bringing so many bags. It was still a mystery to all of them what could possibly be in those bags that Erza thought necessary to bring along.

Once inside, Lucy went to the front desk to book everyone in. Although they all had the money, they had decided to share rooms to cut down on costs. The four boys would share a room together, whilst the girls were split between two rooms; Lucy, Erza and Levy in one room, and Juvia, Wendy and Charle in another. Before they all went to their rooms to unpack and settle in, they had all agreed to meet up at eight that evening in the hotels' restaurant to eat together. The boys said goodbye to the girls on the fourth floor as they went into their rooms, whilst the girls had to go up another flight of stairs to get to theirs. Walking halfway down the long corridor on the fifth floor, the girls eventually found their adjacent rooms. Juvia, Wendy and Charle went into the room on the left hand side, whilst Erza, Lucy and Levy went into the one on the right. As soon as they made it into the room, Erza quickly took the nearest bed, which also happened to be the biggest one. Levy then took the bed in the middle, which left the bed on the furthest side of the room for Lucy. Although it was the smallest of the beds, it was still a decent size, plus it was the nearest one to the window so Lucy had a great view of the sea from here. Placing her suitcase on to the bed, Lucy unzipped the red bag only for half of the clothing to explode out of it, falling all over her bed. "How much clothing did you bring, Lu?" Levy asked in shocked amusement as she picked up a bikini top from the floor. "I didn't think that it had been that much," Lucy muttered taking the bikini top from Levy's hands. Lucy picked up the rest of her clothing that had fallen out of her suitcase, except for a black dress which she would wear at that night's meal, and took it all to one of the dressers allocated in the room. Ten minutes later and Lucy was all unpacked; Levy still had a few things in her suitcase to put away, but Erza had barely gotten through half of her possessions. It wasn't until an hour later when all three girls had completely unpacked. Levy was on her bed reading her book from this morning, resting her back on the headrest, her legs stretched out in front of her; Erza was inspecting their room, looking in every nook and cranny, though taking an extra-long time examining the en suit bathroom, where there were two full-length, and one large horizontal, mirrors. Lucy meanwhile was just lying down on the bottom of her bed, letting her feet dangle off the edge. Letting out a big sigh, Lucy relaxed even further into her bed; it was so soft that she could easily have fallen asleep there and then. She closed her eyes, still not believing that she was on vacation. Smiling to herself, Lucy couldn't have thought of a better place to be right then. She could just tell that this vacation was going to be the best one yet…

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** _It's the next day. The group decide to all do different things. What will happen when Levy and Gajeel are left alone? Is Erza just imagining things when she thinks someone is following her around the resort? And will Lucy still feel like it's the best vacation yet by the end of the day?_

Hi everyone!

I hope you've liked chapter 2. Thank you to those of you that have favorited and followed the story already. I promise you that you will enjoy the story when it really gets going. Like I said in the chapter 1, the first few chapters are going to be a little slow as they're supposed to set the scene and allow you to know what's happening with the characters, but when the action, drama and romance really get going, I promise you, it will be worth the wait. Although this is a NaLu fan fiction, I decided when coming up with the story to include other shipping's so as to spice things up a little. I hope that my representation of the characters are good; I've tried really hard to stay in character for everyone, but if you feel like there's places where I need to improve please let me know in a review or by PM-ing me. I really want to make this story as accurate to the characters, and to the show itself, as I can so any tips or pieces of advice are greatly appreciated. If you like the story so far, it would make me so happy if you could leave a review for me. If you think that there's something other than the characters that I need to improve on, put it in a review and I will try my best to make it better. That's all for now! See you in the next chapter (which will be up in the next few days hopefully).

AnimeTookMySoul


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

The next morning, Lucy woke up much later than she had the previous day; when her chocolate brown eyes finally opened, the sun was high up in the sky, its beams of light seeping through the crack in the curtains. Lifting a heavy hand to her face Lucy rubbed at her eyes to get rid of the sleep dust, sitting up in her bed. "Mornin', sleepy head," came a cheery but tired sounding voice from Lucy's left. Turning her head she saw Levy, her blue hair a wild mess as it stuck out at random angles, but even with the bad hair, Levy still looked adorable. "Morning, Levy," Lucy replied before leaning forward to look around her friend to see if a certain red-head was also awake or still asleep. However, when Lucy's eyes landed on Erza's bed, the mage in question was not there. "Erza left about twenty minutes ago, if you're wondering," Levy said as she stretched, noticing the direction of Lucy's gaze.

Sluggishly, the two girls finally got out of bed, one leg at a time. Over the next hour, they alternated between rooms, Levy using the bathroom first, whilst Lucy got changed in the bedroom area. Noticing that it was a clear, sunny day, Lucy had decided to wear a light, pale blue sun dress, her white and pink bikini underneath. _It looks like a good day to spend in the sea_ Lucy had decided as she searched for her beach towel, sunscreen and watch before placing the objects into a large beach bag she had packed with her. Placing her bag on her bed, she turned around as Levy came out of the bathroom, her bed hair damp and hidden under a precariously placed towel on the blue haired mages head. Another towel was wrapped tightly across Levy's petit body as she walked over to one of the three wardrobes in the room, looking through her clothes as she decided on what to wear that day. Scooting past her friend, Lucy went into the now vacant bathroom, her make-up bag, which she had picked up from inside her suitcase, swinging by her side as she closed the bathroom door behind her. When she went to check her reflexion in the multiple mirrors, all of them were steamed up from Levy's shower. Rubbing the condensation off the mirrors with her hand, Lucy finally got a glimpse of her reflexion. "Yikes!" she said aloud; her usually well-kept hair was ten times wilder than Levy's had been, her eyes were slightly puffy and there was a clear trail of dry drool glistening from the corner of her mouth all the way down and past her chin. _This is going to take a while_ Lucy sighed as she grabbed her hairbrush and tried to detangle her wild mane.

* * *

Forty minutes later and Lucy finally came out of the bathroom, feeling satisfied that she had done her best to make herself look more appealing to the human eye. As she walked back into the bedroom area, she was startled when she saw Erza, Juvia, Wendy and Charle all in the room. Lucy walked over to her bed where Levy was sitting, seeing as Wendy and Charle were sitting on the solid script mages bed, and put her make-up bag back in her suitcase before sitting down on her bed next to Levy. Before Lucy could ask why they were all in the room, Erza began to speak, "I spoke to the boys this morning when I was on my way back from my morning run. We agreed that we would all do our own things this morning and then meet up for some lunch at one." Lucy thought that the re-quip mage was going to say more, but when after a few moments had passed, it was evident that Erza had finished. "Juvia is going to find Gray and spend the morning together with my darling," Juvia said to the group from Erza's bed. It was clear from the looks that each girl had on their face that they knew this would be the water mages plan. "Me and Charle are going to go to the amusement park," Wendy said, feeling like she needed to address what she would do; seeing as Charle would be there, it could easily be assumed that Happy would probably end up being there. "I shall be going for a hike around the island," Erza stated; she definitely looked the part to hike; she was quipped in shorts and a t-shirt, but had hiking boots on, as well as hiking gear visible in the bag she had draped on one shoulder. "Although I'm not hiking, I think I'm going to go explore the island for a while," Levy said, swinging her feet in front of her. "And I'm going down to the beach," Lucy said as the others looked at her for her response. Once they had all decided what they were going to do for the morning, Erza said, "alright then. We shall all meet back at the hotel near the restaurant." At this, the others had seen this as their dismissal so each person got up off the bed and walked in an orderly line out of the door. Before Lucy had walked out of the room Levy called her name from behind her. "Hey Lu, I've finished the book if you want to take it with you? I'm sure it will keep you entertained whilst you tan," Levy winked as she handed the book to Lucy. "Thanks, Levy," Lucy said as she placed the book in her bag before the two of them walked out of the room together.

When they all eventually arrived at the hotels front entrance, they said their farewells before walking off in different directions; Juvia quickly ran off to find Gray; Wendy and Charle walked right to where the amusement was; Erza and Levy went left to the trail that lead out of the hotels boundaries. Lucy watched the others all disappear before she finally walked forwards towards the beach, which was beckoning her onto its golden sands. There were quite a lot of people already on the beach, despite it still being slightly early. Not wanting to be disturbed by the groups of children playing with beach balls and throwing sand everywhere, Lucy walked along the beach for a while before finding a spacious spot. Lucy took her towel out of her bag, placed it neatly on the ground before sitting down on top of it, her knees bent so that they touched her chest, loosely placing her arms around her legs. For a while, Lucy just sat like that, taking everything in. The sea was sparkling from the sun reflecting off of it; a few birds were drifting lazily through the sky, crying their morning calls to each other; a slight breeze drifted from the side. Even though there was a nice breeze, Lucy still felt warm and so took off her sundress so she sat only in her bikini.

Eventually, Lucy leaned over to her bag and grabbed the book Levy had lent her. _Well, there's no better time to read_ Lucy decided, placing the book at the edge of the towel as she got into a more comfortable position. Opting to lie down on her front, Lucy picked up the book once more, opened it up and began to read. _It was a dark and dreary morning which started that fateful day_ the first sentence read. "Looks like another cliché romance novel," Lucy muttered to herself, but smiled because these were the kind of romance novels she enjoyed most. _The alarm blared off in my ear, telling me it was time to wake up. When I tried to turn around to switch off the damn thing, I found myself trapped by my bed cover, which must have tangled itself around my body. A five minute battle between me and the covers later, I managed to click the 'off' button on my alarm, more forceful than probably necessary. Even as I got out of bed that morning, I could feel that today was not going to be my day. I tried to get dressed, but the buttons on my blouse were putting up as strong a fight as the bed covers had. Feeling defeated, I shoved off the blouse and chucked it back in to the dresser, grabbing a random dress from the wardrobe instead. I went downstairs and made my morning coffee. As I went to take a sip from my mug, my phone rang, startling me, causing me to spill my drink all over my dress. The boiling hot liquid seeped through the fabric and onto my skin, burning me. I stifled my cry of pain as I reached for the phone. "Hello?" I asked down the line. "Why are you not at work yet, Miss Denton? The meeting is starting in a few minutes!" an angry voice bellowed back. Crap, I had forgotten all about the meeting. "I-I'll be there in five minutes, sir," I replied before ending the call. Rushing up stairs, I quickly grabbed a jacket to cover the coffee stain with, no time to get changed again, before I rushed out of my small apartment. Five minutes later exactly and I was running (a great feat when in heels) into the entrance of the Bijnesu Industries, the large and fancy building which I worked as a secretary in. I rushed over to the elevators and jabbed the up button. I waited impatiently for a few moments before the elevator opened. I rushed inside and pressed the number '12' button; the meeting was to occur on the twelfth floor. Before the elevator doors had closed completely, a hand caught the door and forced the elevator to open. The figure that had stopped my elevator walked in and quickly pressed the number '9' button. I couldn't see who it was as they were facing away from me, but I knew that they were male. The doors finally closed and that was when I finally got to see the man's face. It was this moment when my fateful encounter began. I felt all the air leave my body when I looked in to the man's face. Time seemed to stand still in that moment, as if the two of us, when we entered the elevator, had stepped into another world that only worked for us. My eyes moved from his icy blue pair, to his lips. I bit my lower lip, imagining if his mouth would feel as soft as it looked, when his lips parted. He took a deep breath, before saying in a deep, husky voice,_ "Yo, Lucy!" Natsu yelled from a distance, causing Lucy to fall out of her trance. _And it was just getting to the good part too_ Lucy sighed sadly, marking the page she was on before putting the book back in her bag; now that Natsu was here, Lucy would find it difficult to read. Kneeling up, Lucy turned her gaze to where she had heard Natsu's voice and smiled as she watched him jog over to her. He was stripped down to some flaming red swimming trunks and his scarf which was tied around his head.

"Hey, Natsu. Where's Happy?" She asked her partner once he was standing next to her. "He's with Charle and Wendy. They told me that you were here," Natsu said before sitting down on the ground next to Lucy. "Hey, have you put any sunscreen on? Your shoulders are starting to go red," the pink haired mage said. True to his word, when Lucy looked at her shoulders they were no longer their usual creamy colour, but a bright, rosy pink. _I hadn't thought I had been out that long_ Lucy thought before looking back at Natsu. "you should probably put some on before you start looking like your crab spirit, uh, what's his name… oh yeah, Cancer," he said whilst she rummaged through her bag, bringing out the white bottle full of sunscreen. She squeezed a decent sized dollop of the liquid directly onto her right shoulder and began to rub it into her skin. Once she was satisfied she had rubbed it all in, she repeated the process on the other shoulder. She also put a little sunscreen on her face, hoping that she had got it all. Lucy was about to put the bottle back into her bag when Natsu grabbed it from her hand. "You forgot your back," he said before moving so that he could sit behind Lucy. "Oh it's okay, I can do-" Lucy started to say but Natsu's hands made contact with her back, spreading the sunscreen across her pinky-red skin. It stung a little when he rubbed it in; she hadn't realised how burnt she was. Soon the sting left to be replaced by a soothing sensation, her back going from tense to relaxed. Although there was no more pain, Lucy felt a tingling sensation wherever Natsu's hands trailed. She didn't know what the tingling was, but she did know that she liked it. Just as Lucy was trying to figure out why her back was tingling, Natsu's hands left her back. Lucy turned around so that she could face her comrade. "Uh, thanks for doing that," she said. _That was a very Un-Natsu thing for him to do_ Lucy thought to herself. She would never have imagined Natsu to voluntarily rub sunscreen on her, or anyone for that matter, but she appreciated it nevertheless. Natsu didn't speak, but rather smiled in response to Lucy.

Just as Lucy was about to ask Natsu why he was there and not with one of the other guys, a male voice shouted at them from along the beach, the same way that Natsu had come from. "Hey, Natsu! Lucy!" Gray yelled at the two as he came closer. As usual, Gray was stripped of his shirt and trousers, but at least he was wearing swimming trunks rather than underwear. "Don't you know what time it is? Erza made me come get you both. You know she hates us being late," Gray said once he was close enough to not have to shout. _Was is one O'clock already?_ Lucy thought before looking into her bag for her watch; the little clock said that it was quarter past one. She looked at Natsu, who had looked over her shoulder to see the time, and the two of them gulped. Erza was going to kill them. Quickly getting to their feet, Lucy picked up her towel, shaking off as much sand as she could before shoving it in her bag along with her sunscreen and watch. Hastily grabbing her bag, Lucy followed the two guys quickly back up to the hotel.

No less than five minutes later and the trio were walking into the restaurant. As they were all only clad into their swimming gear, they had to sit outside, which wasn't a problem because it was too hot to sit indoors. Weaving through the many tables, they managed to get to the outside area as well as find the rest of their group; the only other people who were in swimming gear was Gajeel and Juvia. Everyone looked up at the three of them as they came to the table. However, one glance from Erza and the three of them jumped backwards a few feet. Erza was giving her and Natsu one of her famous death glares; even though he wasn't being glared at, Gray still fell backwards in fear of facing Erza's wrath for something he probably did. "You're late," Erza said stiffly to Natsu and Lucy. They both tried to ramble their apologies at the same time, but before they could, Erza lifted one of her hands in to the air in a stop motion, and the two fell silent. "Usually I would punish such tardiness, but seeing as we are all on holiday, I will let it slide this time. But be warned, if any of you are late again, I will not go so easy on you," Erza said, the last bit directed towards all of them. "Yes, Erza," the group, except Gajeel who just grunted, said in unison. "Now, let us all sit and eat," the re-quip mage said, signalling for Natsu, Gray and Lucy to sit down with them. Gray went to the other side of the table to sit in his seat between Erza and Juvia. Natsu sat down in the seat directly in front of him, Happy on his right. This left Lucy with the seat on Natsu's left, and on Levy's right. Pulling the chair under her, Lucy picked up the menu from in front of her and scanned its contents, looking for something appetising to eat.

It took them all ten minutes before the waiter could take their order; Erza was being particularly picky, asking questions about practically every dish. All of the males had decided on big meaty meals, Happy on fish, whilst all the females went for light meals such as salads or sandwiches. Lucy had decided to go for the chicken Caesar salad. As they all waited for their food to arrive, they all fell into small talk among each other. "So, how are you finding the book?" Levy asked Lucy. "Trashy and cliché. Just how I like them," Lucy replied, smiling. "I knew that you would enjoy it," Levy smirked. The two girls giggled and chatted away for a while when the waiter finally arrived with their food. As soon as her plate was placed in front of her, Lucy's stomach gave an involuntary grumble; she hadn't realised how hungry she was. Not waiting, Lucy grabbed her forked and tucked right in, the other following her lead. As she chewed the food, she let out a little moan. "Mavis, this is good!" she stated out loud. "Don't let Mira find out you said that," Levy said next to her before adding, "but this food _is_ delicious," and stuffed her small mouth with even more of her food. Lucy laughed at her friend but the laugh quickly as she went back to her food.

* * *

With their bellies full and smiles on their faces, the group was much quieter than they had been at the beginning. Some of them sipped on their drinks, others continued talking, whilst a few just gazed at nothing in particular. Lucy was one of those who was staring off out to sea, not really watching, but thinking about earlier. She had never felt that tingling sensation before in her back, or in any part of her body. It worried her; was it just because the sunscreen was numbing the burning in her back, or was she sick, or was it something else? When she looked over to Natsu, her breath caught in her throat for some reason when she saw the way he looked; the sun was making him look like he was glowing like a lightbulb, his hair almost a neon pink than a calm salmon colour. But it was his eyes, oh how his eyes glistened so beautifully. _Like rays of happiness_. Lucy couldn't help but smile just looking at them. "Hey, Lucy? Why are smiling like that? It's creepy," Happy said as he looked at her from around Natsu. Looking down at the feline, Lucy blushed furiously realising what she was doing. Some of the othlers looked at her, which caught the attention of the few that weren't, who all soon quickly moved their gazes onto her as well. Not enjoying this new found attention, and wanting to get away from her thoughts, Lucy stood up and said, "I need the bathroom," before excusing herself and turned around. Just as she was about to walk however, Lucy heard roars of laughter come from behind her, causing people from other tables to turn and stare at their group. Lucy turned back around and tried to say "what" but as she spoke, more laughter, though quieter, came from behind her; _what's so funny?_ She thought, turning to Levy, hoping the solid script mage would explain to her what the joke was. However it was Gajeel who spoke to Lucy. "Hey blondie, nice sun burn!" the dragon-slayer said through laughs. She knew that her sun burn was bad, but it wasn't anything to laugh at. Getting angry and flustered, Lucy once again turned to her friend for an answer. This time Levy spoke, though after she managed to stop laughing. "Hey, uh, Lu? Who put sunscreen on your back?" the blue haired mage asked. "Natsu did. Why?" She asked, confused. At this, all the girls glared at Natsu who, at the new found attention caved in and admitted to his crime. Facing Lucy, the fire-dragon slayer said, in between hysterical laughter, "I'm… sorry, Lucy! I… couldn't… help myself!" Before continuing, Natsu took a deep breath to try to calm down, but this only caused him to laugh harder. It took him a few moments to calm down before he spoke again. "When I was putting sunscreen on you, I thought your back could do with some redecorating. So I drew a picture in the sunscreen. I didn't think that it would stay!" Lucy's eyes widened in horror at this realisation as she tried to look at her back, but her neck wouldn't turn so far backwards. She looked at Levy and asked, "what did he draw?" Levy bit her lip, trying desperately to hold back a fit of giggles, for her friends sake. Taking a deep breath, Levy replied, "well it looks like it was supposed to be a face, but the sunscreen has drooped a bit and the eyes have attached to the nose, which is now really long, so it all looks like a-" "I get the picture," Lucy said quickly to stop her friend from uttering the male body part allowed. Groaning, Lucy grabbed for her bag and rummaged through it until she found her light blue dress. Putting it on, Lucy grabbed her bag, but just before she was about to drape it over her shoulder, her eyes fell onto Natsu. Anger filled her whole body; he was going to pay for this. Raising her back high, she swung the big beach bag down until it made contact with Natsu's head, a satisfying _smack_ sound emitting through the air. "OW! What's in that bag? Bricks?" Natsu whined, rubbing his head as he looked up at Lucy. Feeling satisfied, Lucy turned around and stormed off, not bothering to say goodbye to anyone.

She automatically went up to her hotel room, but when she went inside decided she didn't want to sit in there; Erza and Levy would surely come up here looking for her. So instead, Lucy placed her bag onto her bed, took out _A Fateful Encounter_ and left the room once more. Not sure where she would go, Lucy went out of the hotel and randomly walked left. She allowed her feet to take her wherever. Finally after what felt like an hour, Lucy decided to sit down under a nearby tree, her feet sore from walking on the rough terrain of the island; flip flops were probably not the most ideal footwear for such a rocky, hilly terrain. Sitting down on a soft looking patch of grass under her chosen tree, Lucy went to rest her back against the trunk but her sunburn argued against the contact. Pulling away, Lucy waited for the sting to disappear from her back. Once the pain had gone and Lucy's body began to stiffen from the position she was in, Lucy tried again to rest against the tree trunk, this time leaning against it slowly, trying to not make her dress to move so as to avoid causing friction. There was still some sting when her back touched the tree once more, but it was bearable. A cool breeze drifted from the sea all the way up to where she was on the island. The wind soothed and relaxed Lucy, feeling nice on her skin. Leaning her head back, Lucy closed her eyes and stayed like that for a long time, allowing her other senses to work; she could hear the rustle of the palm leaves above her as the wind blew through them; she could smell the salty ocean air drifting past her; she could feel the strands of grass under her hands trying to seep in between the gaps of her fingers. Time slipped by as she stayed like that, with not a care in the world.

* * *

"Lucy!" Erza shouted around her. When Lucy was not in their hotel room as they had all expected, the group got slightly worried about her; she knew that the events from lunch had upset her and they wanted to make it up to her for laughing. They had all decided to split up to search for her; Wendy and Charle looked around the hotel, in case the celestial spirit mage had decided to wonder through the corridors; Gray had decided to check the north part of the island, Juvia volunteering to go with him, much to Gray's dismay; Happy decided to look in the amusement park; Levy and Gajeel went down to the beach to search for Lucy, which was the south part of the island; Natsu went to the East thinking that he could smell faint traces of her scent; this left Erza to search the Western part of the island alone. Not that she minded searching by herself, Erza had been feeling slightly uneasy all day; during her morning jog, she noticed another jogger, though their face and hair were hidden behind a hat, sunglasses and balaclava; true it was a bit chilly that morning, but it wasn't _that_ cold. Later on, when she went for her hike, Erza couldn't help but feel like she was being watched from a distance, but whenever she tried to find a source, no one or nothing was to be found. And now whilst she rummaged past low hanging branches and through thick plantation on the ground, Erza had that unsettling feeling of being watched. When she heard the snapping of twig underfoot a few feet behind her, the muscles in her back tensed, but she did not stop or turn. Instead, Erza had decided to allow the potential stalker follow her so that when she felt the time was right, she would pounce on them.

About ten minutes later and Erza knew that the stalker had gotten closer to her, though stayed within the shadows. Trying to not act suspiciously, Erza moved her head slightly to the side, looking as far out of the corner of her eye as she could. Although she couldn't see clearly, Erza could see a shadowy figure from her restricted vision. From an estimated guess, they were less than six feet away from her position. _Not yet_ Erza said to herself, holding back the urge to attack the foe. Erza turned her gaze back onto the road ahead of her and continued to look for Lucy, her sense of hearing acute for any sounds from her stalker, or from Lucy if she was here.

"Lucy," Erza shouted once more, cupping her hands around her mouth so as to make her voice louder. She deliberately tried to make herself sound much louder; one so that, if she was within the area, Lucy would be able to hear her; but the main reason why Erza yelled so loudly was so that the foe could move closer, which they did as Erza could faintly hear the rushing of fabric scraping against floor as they tried to get closer to her. "Lucy," Erza shouted again, slowing her pace a bit; she could sense that, whoever it was, they were probably only three metres away from her now. Stopping completely in her tracks, Erza looked like she was about to yell, and just as she let the sound start to leave her mouth, she turned quickly and pounced at the person. The foe didn't even have a chance to take in what was happening when the two of them tumbled down the hill, Erza clinging tightly onto the stalker, whose identity was concealed under a cloak, though as they rolled down, Erza had to close her eyes to avoid dust and dirt from entering them. As soon as they stopped rolling, Erza half opened one eye, just in case they hadn't stopped and it was just her imagination. At first her sight was slightly blurry from the tightness that she had kept her eyes shut. But once her vision cleared, her eyes fell on to the person that she was practically laying on top. But the person underneath her was the last person she was ever expecting to see as her stalker. Although his bright blue hair was all scruffy, and his features were scrunched as he waited for the spinning in his head to stop, Erza could tell exactly who it was. Before they had a chance to even move, or open their eyes, Erza spoke.

"Jalal?!"

* * *

Levy and Gajeel walked in silence across the sand as they looked for Lucy. Levy was worried about her friend, but she couldn't help but feel a little irritated by Gajeel, who kept on sighing every time they went past another person that wasn't Lucy. After the fifteenth person he did this to, Levy gave a sigh of her own before turning her head to look at Gajeel. "You know, if you really don't want to be here, you can go if you like," the solid script mage said. Gajeel only looked at her from the corner of his eyes and didn't speak, but continued walking. Levy stayed silent, but when they walked past another blonde girl who ended up being a blonde guy with extremely long hair and Gajeel sighed yet again, Levy stopped walking and crossed her arms over her chest.

It took Gajeel a few seconds to realise that the blue haired mage had stopped walking. "What?" he asked her, slight irritation visible in his voice and his facial features. "Just go back to the hotel if you don't want to do this. No one will mind. I can easily search the beach on my own," Levy said to the iron dragon-slayer, her mouth forming a thin line, her eyes slightly narrowed. "Not gunna happen, shorty," was Gajeel's reply. Levy tried to keep her expression going as she asked, "and why's that?" She was trying to be intimidating, but she knew that she was failing; her below average height and petite body compared to the tall and muscular dragon-slayer in front of her, it was easy to tell who was intimidating who. "Cuz you're worried about blondie. You're annoying when you're worried," Gajeel said, folding his arms over his chest. Although his expression was his usually grumpy style, and even though he called her annoying, Levy couldn't help but feel her heart pang against her chest; this was his way of caring, she knew. Having a change of heart, Levy loosened her arms back down to her sides, her facial expression relaxing a bit. She walked back over to his side, but before they continued to walk, Levy turned her whole body so that she could look at him when she spoke. "I appreciate your concern for me, but I can look after myself. You don't need to stay if you really don't want to." Her voice was much softer than the irritated tones she had been previously useing. Part of her really wished that he would just go if he was going to continue sighing like that; but part of her really hoped that he would stay. Since the S-class trials on Tenrou Island, Levy had felt a closer connection to Gajeel. Even though the iron dragon-slayer never showed his emotions, Levy could just tell that he felt the same. From the slight upward crease in the corner of his mouth when he was happy, or the slight furrowing of his brows when he wasn't sure or worried, Levy saw it all and understood each expression like the back of her hand. She felt sure enough to say that she was one of the few that actually knew these little things about Gajeel.

When he finally spoke his response, Levy was surprised by the soft, caring tone he used. "Shorty, I wanna stay. I prefer being around you than lounging around in that damn hotel room alone. It's weird but I've gotten used to having you around me." When he spoke, he dropped his gaze from her, suddenly finding the sand rather interesting; but Levy could see the very faint trace of a blush. This made Levy smile. "Gajeel," she said in her warm tone, but before she could continue, Gajeel spoke in his usual gruff tone, looking back up at her. "You better not get all mushy on me now, or you'll be useless in finding blondie," he said before reaching out and placing a rough hand on top of her head, ruffling her hair. "Hey!" she protested as her once tamed down hair loosened from under her headband. "Come on, pipsqueak," Gajeel said, as he moved his hand from her head to her shoulder, pulling her into his side as he draped his arm over her.

Just this movement made Levy forget her worries of Lucy.

* * *

Lucy didn't know exactly how long she had been like that, but by the time she opened her eyes, the sun was beginning to set. She was shocked that she hadn't notice the suns movement in the sky, or how chilly it had become. Even so, she still did not move, enjoying her time alone. As she moved her head off the tree trunk, Lucy opted to rest her head on the tops of her knees, drawing her legs up so she could do so. Lucy stared off to side, in the direction of the sea, and thought. She didn't know why she felt so hurt and betrayed by Natsu; he had done so many worse pranks on her and yet it was this one that had hurt her the most. Maybe it was because it was in front of people outside the guild, or maybe it was because everyone had been laughing rather cruelly at her, she wasn't sure which though. Either way, she really didn't enjoy this feeling, much unlike the tingling feeling she had had from earlier on in the day. Speaking of which, both of these feelings were caused by Natsu. Similar things had happened to her in the past as a result from Natsu, and yet this was the first time Lucy could recall ever feeling such emotions because of him, which unsettled her. Lucy didn't know how she felt about these newfound feelings but she didn't have time to make a decision when she noticed the pink haired mage in question come up the path she had walked earlier to get to where she was now. "There you are, Luce! We've been looking all over for you," Natsu said as he saw sight of her. As soon as she heard him speak, she turned her head in the other direction, sounding a very audible exhale of breath from her nose. She was not in the mood to talk to him. "Hey, there's no need to be like that. Lucy, I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean to upset you. I thought it was funny-" but as Natsu said this, he could tell that he had taken a wrong footing, though he didn't know what he had said that was wrong. Lucy's head snapped upwards towards him, her nostrils flaring, and eyes like daggers ready to kill. "Funny?! You think it's funny to have something like… like _that_ on your back? Have everyone laugh at you in such a horrible way? Natsu, I have never been more embarrassed in my life! I can't believe you!" Lucy said to him, louder than her usual tone, but not loud enough to be called shouting. "Lucy, I've already said I'm sorry, what else can I sa-" Natsu started to say, but it was this that tipped Lucy over the edge. Jumping to her feet, Lucy yelled, "DO YOU REALLY THINK SORRY IS GOING TO CUT IT?! That was the most humiliating moment of my life! What's worse is that I'm going to be stuck with your 'work of art' for at least the next few weeks, unless I can find a remedy or spell to get rid of it! Now unless you're going to make it up to me, I suggest you get the hell away from me, Natsu, or I'm going to give you some serious brain damage!" Lucy lifted her book up threateningly; a big, hard-back book would probably give a person some serious head injuries.

Even so, Natsu didn't move, nor did he speak. He just stood there watching her for a moment. The evening light was reflecting the both of them and in that moment, Lucy couldn't help but notice just how beautiful Natsu looked. It was different to the beauty Lucy saw at lunch; where he looked bright and happy in the high sun, now Natsu looked serious and very much masculine. Each muscle in his arms were accented by the sun rays making them stand out even more; his hair looked like moving flames, making him really live up to his title as a fire dragon-slayer; his lips, half hidden in shadows looked firm but soft at the same time. Lucy realised that she had been staring at Natsu's lips, her thoughts starting to go somewhere she didn't want them to. Shaking her head, Lucy started to speak, "please, Natsu, just go-" but Natsu had closed the space between them and wrapped his muscular arms around her shoulders, bringing her close to her. Lucy's arms stayed by her side, too in shock from the sudden contact as a feeling of electricity ran throughout her body. As her brain processed what was happening, Natsu said quietly next to her ear so it was almost a whisper, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, really. I promise I'll make it up to you. I'll try to find something to fix it. I'll never prank you ever again. I'll do anything. Just, please don't stay mad at me. I don't like seeing you angry like this." The sound of vulnerability and insecurity was visible in Natsu's voice, which shocked Lucy even more than the embrace had; it was extremely rare to see such a side to Natsu, as he usually reserved such emotions for desperate battles where he had protect comrades in dire situations. It was this sound in his voice that made Lucy's arms finally move from her sides to around Natsu's chest. Lucy didn't know why Natsu was feeling such emotions; no one was in mortal danger, it was just the two of them there in the dying sunlight, alone on the hill top, hugging one another tightly. It was a while until either of them spoke again. "I'm sorry, Lucy," Natsu whispered into the crook between her head and shoulder, causing Goosebumps to rise where his breath touched her skin. Trying to ignore this, Lucy said, "it's okay."

They didn't let go of each other even when the sun had completely disappeared, and the moon and the stars glistened around them.

* * *

 **Next chapter:** _Day two of the vacation and there's a competition going down at the beach. What are everyone's reactions when they find out that Erza has signed them all up for it, or more particularly the grouping that they are all in?_

Phew! Another chapter done!

So this chapter took a while to write, and is my longest so far. At first I was going to go for a different approach and I had more NaLu, but after much consideration, I ended up taking a huge chunk out and re-wrote lots of it. Still, I hope you like it. Also, as I'm currently doing my A levels, and although my exams are out of the way (thank Mavis!), I have a lot of A2 stuff going on as well as University preps and so on, so I have less time to write. But don't worry! I'm determined to continue writing. So what I've decided to do is upload a new chapter once a week, probably on a Sunday, though the date may differ from time to time because of future events (I'm going to Florida early July and I won't be taking my laptop with me). Even so, I do hope that you stick with the story and I will try my best to get a new chapter out every Sunday.

On a side note, I hope you enjoyed the little bit of Jerza and GaLe I put in. I'll be bringing some Gruvia in later on, so if you ship it, don't worry! I haven't forgotten them!

Chapter 4 will be up next week, so keep an eye out for it. Thanks to everyone who has followed and favorited the story, and a big thanks to those who have followed and favorited me! It means a lot to me. As I've said in the other chapters, if you have any pieces of criticism or areas of improvement for me, please let me know in a review. If there's anything you like about the story so far, I would love to know!

In the meantime, I'd best get cracking on with the next chapter.

AnimeTookMySoul


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

It was around one in the morning. Almost the entire group was asleep in their rooms, all except for Erza, Levy, and Lucy. The three girls were in their hotel room, each perched on their own beds just talking about the unexpected events of their day. When Levy spoke about her slight romantic moment with Gajeel on the beach, not only did the she blush, so did the other two. Both Erza and Lucy were enthusiastic, and encouraged Levy to go for it. "It's obvious that he has feelings for you. You just need to give him a helping hand," Lucy had said to her friend when the blue haired mage was having doubts on how to approach the iron dragon-slayer after this. However, when the topic turned to Erza, the room went quiet before both Levy and Lucy bombarded the red haired mage with questions upon questions.

"Jellal was here?!"

"Where is he now?"

"Did he hurt you?"

"Why was he following you?"

"What did you-"

"Enough!" Erza said, effectively shutting the other two up in fear of feeling the re-quip mages wrath. There was a moment's pause before Erza spoke. "Yes he was here. He's staying in one of the hotels rooms; I'm not sure which though. He didn't hurt me, but as for why he was following me, I have no clue. I didn't get a chance to ask him because Meredy arrived and took him back to the hotel. All I know is that they are here because there was word that some members of a recently disbanded dark guild would be coming to the island, and they are hoping to find information on other dark guilds from them." Although this explained why Jellal was at Akane Resort, it still didn't explain as to why he had been following Erza. As Erza pondered, Lucy spoke, causing her to fall out of her thoughts. "Should we tell the others that he was here? I doubt Natsu will be overly excited to hear that he's on the island, even if they made up last time." It was true that the two males were on good terms, but that was stretching it; Natsu may have forgiven Jellal for his crimes, but he certainly hadn't forgotten the pain and suffering he had put Erza through. This point made Erza frown a little before speaking. "I think it would be advisable to let them know. We don't want any of them to disturb Crime Sorcière's proceedings if they are here on business matters," Erza said to the two, but her expression hadn't changed much. Since the topic of Jellal was discussed, Erza had not smiled once throughout her interrogation by the other two, who both noticed this. However it was Levy that had decided to change the subject.

Turning around, Levy had a mischievous grin on her face as she asked Lucy, "so, Lu? What happened between you and Natsu? I noticed that you two came back to the hotel together." This remark made Lucy suddenly find it extremely difficult to look Levy in the eye without blushing a little, so instead she looked over to Erza, who's mood had changed faster than when she re-quipped; this was a mistake on Lucy's part, because Erza also had a devious glint in her eyes. She didn't even know why she was blushing, _it's not like I have those kinds of feelings for him_ Lucy thought reasonably in her head. Lucy tried to calm herself down before she looked at them, though not directly in the eyes, and spoke. "Honestly, not much. He apologised for… you know, _that_ ," Lucy said, pointing at her back; when they had come back to the hotel, Wendy managed to get rid of not only the 'work of art' but the sun burn itself, so Lucy was now back to her normal skin tone. "Then we hugged for a while before coming back," Lucy finished. To anyone who may have watched the event, they would have said that this was all that happened, but Lucy had left out a few details, like how she had felt; when they had hugged, the tingling sensation had overwhelmed her whole body, but there was also a slight pain when he touched her; it was a good pain (if that was possible) in the pit of her stomach; it was the kind of pain that you couldn't help but love. Lucy honestly didn't know why she had felt like this, and why it was only Natsu made her feel like this; on their walk back to the hotel alone they had stayed quiet, but this was because Lucy suddenly found herself nervous in his presence, worried of saying something that would make her sound stupid, even though she had never been worried about looking like a fool in front of him before. She honestly didn't know what was happening to herself. Maybe she was starting to feel different things for Natsu? _No, I am definitely_ not _forming a crush on that flame-head!_ Lucy thought stubbornly in her head _I mean this is Natsu!_

After she had spoken, in her moment of silence, Lucy's expressions were visible on her face; by the time she had reached her own obstinate conclusion, she was scowling ever so slightly. Levy broke the silence by saying, "okay, Lu. I believe you." But it was evident in her blue haired friends' voice that she didn't believe her, and when Lucy looked up at Levy,she could tell that this wasn't going to be the last time this conversation came up.

* * *

As the other two slept, Erza quietly got out of her queen sized bed, grabbed some clothing and went into the bathroom to change, trying to be as quiet as possible so as to not wake the other two. Ten minutes later and Erza was, as quietly as she could, clicking shut the rooms' door behind her. She walked along the corridor, down the flights of stairs and out of the hotel. As she stood outside, the early dawn sunlight flashed her a good morning; for it still being considerably early, the sun was rather bright so Erza put on her sunglasses , which had been hanging in the 'V' line of her jogging top, before beginning her morning stretches. "S'cuse me," came a voice from behind her, followed by a small prod in the back. Erza looked behind her with a slight annoyed look at the squat little man who dared to interrupt her morning routine. However she realised that she had been blocking the hotel entrance, and the guy had three rather large and heavy looking boxes stacked on top of each other in his arms. She moved to the side and watched the guy as he walked forward and then right, onto the beach and out of sight. She continued with her stretching for a few more minutes before feeling loose enough to start her jog. Since she had used the hiking trail yesterday, Erza decided to jog along the beach; the golden sands surrounded the whole island so would be the perfect path for her jog, and would also keep her concentrated on not falling over. As she made her way on the beach, Erza decided to go left, opposite from the man from earlier. Erza got her footing sorted before she started a light jog to pace herself with.

Almost an hour later and Erza was nearing the finish line of her new jogging track. In the distance, towards her left, the hotel was just visible. As Erza looked away, her legs stopped moving and she halted in place just before she collided with a ladder. Looking up she saw the guy from earlier standing at the top trying to put up a sign, though what the sign said she didn't know. This was the second time that she had almost collided with this man, so she felt like an explanation was in need here. "Excuse me," Erza shouted up to the man, startling him. He waited until the ladder stopped wobbling before he looked down at her. Seeing her, he merely grunted in reply, acknowledging her. Erza saw this as his way of telling her to continue so she didn't hesitate to. "What are you doing exactly?" Erza asked the man, holding the bottom of the ladder for him in case it wobbled again. Just as she asked, the man had finished putting up the sign and in response to her question, he grunted once more whilst using a thumb to point at the writing behind him. In big, bold writing were the words, "AKANE'S SUMMER COMPETITION". This piqued Erza's interest; she did love a competition, especially when she won. Under the bold title was some more information:

 _This years' competition includes various rounds which will test your strengths and weaknesses. To sign up, fill out the form at the hotel's front desk. This is a team competition, so participants must be in groups of four. Further information will be given upon signing up, and during the competition._

With a mischievous glint in her eyes, Erza sprinted towards the hotel.

* * *

"Are you gonna tell us why we're all having to come down to the beach, Erza?" Gray asked the re-quip mage over the heads of the others. Lucy looked over to the ice-make mage as he spoke before turning to Erza, also curious about why she had been dragged out of their hotel room; as she past each room, Erza had knocked on all of their comrades door and as soon as they answered, she had immediately dragged them out and told them to follow her to the beach. Some of them, the guys in particular, were a little grouchy at being hauled from the safety of their rooms, wanting to have a day without drama. But everything about Erza's persona literally screamed mystery, which could only mean she had a scheme up her sleeve, so drama could only pursue close behind. Although Lucy was not particularly happy of being told what to do whilst on holiday, she had to admit that she was curious to see what it was Erza had in store for the group.

It was only when they had arrived at the beach and got to the front of the large cascading crowd that the group knew what it was that Erza had wanted them all on the beach for. "Hello, are you here for the competition?" a perky and bubbly voice sounded from their right. A long and lanky brunette female, who must have only been a few years older than all of them, was the one who had spoken with a large smile that stretched to her cheeks. She wore a size-too-big yellow hoodie which had in big red letters the word 'STAFF' written on the front. "All people wanting to watch have to stay behind that line," the staff member indicated, pointing towards a white line of rope that was placed on the floor, where behind it the group that they had walked through stood. Just as the group began to walk back to behind that line, Erza spoke, "actually we are here to participate in the competition. We should be under the names 'Fairy Tail A' and Fairy Tail B'." At this remark, the rest of the group snapped their heads towards the red haired mage, looks of annoyance and irritation on their faces. "Hey! What's this all about, Erza? None of us agreed to this," Gray complained, but his anger was short lived as Erza gave him her famous death stare, daring him to continue. The glare had caused all of them to change their expressions too, so that each looked like they had been petrified.

"What was that, Gray?" Erza said with dead-pan eyes directed towards the ice mage.

"N-nothing, mam!"

"I thought so," Erza said before turning back to the brunette.

Erza finished talking to the female staff member, getting everything sorted out before coming over to the group. "I decided that this would be a good way to spend our day, as not only will it benefit us for our team work skills, it will be fun. And the prizes aren't too bad either..." Erza trailed off. This caught the attention of a few of them, wondering what the prize might be. Just as some of them opened their mouths to ask, the staff member came over to them and asked them to follow her over to a tent a bit further along the beach. They complied and so the group all trailed behind the female, Erza almost stepping on her heels in her eager anticipation.

When they were inside the tent, which was an overly large pristine white thing that could have easily served as a penthouse it was that big, the interior was split into sections, each of which was assigned to a team. The female staff member cleared her throat, catching the attention of the group. "Alrighty! So my name is Uma and I'm just one of the members of staff helping to create this event and make sure it all runs smoothly. If you need anything or have any questions, just come find me or another member of staff and we will help you to the best of our abilities." Uma allowed this to sink in as she flicked through the note board that she was holding; she must have picked it up earlier. "Alrighty, so Fairy Tail A is Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Erza, and Fairy Tail B is Wendy, Levy, Gajeel, and Juvia. Is this correct?" Uma asked, the question, although to the whole group, was mainly directed to Erza. However, it was Juvia that spoke up. "There must be a mistake. Juvia should be on the other team with Gray. Juvia-"

"Those teams are correct," Erza interrupted, answering Uma's question.

"But Juvia-"

"Those are my _carefully chosen teams_ ," Erza said, giving Juvia a look that could make little children quiver in fear. Juvia just gulped, but stayed quiet after this. Lucy had to try to stifle a laugh from watching the comical scene in front of her.

Uma had just watched with her mouth hanging open slightly, and had not noticed that the small quarrel had ended. Jerking herself back to her senses, Uma said, "Alrighty then. If you will all follow me, I will show you where you are all assigned." The two teams were in adjacent sections towards the end of the tent: they were three sections from the back. As Wendy, Levy, Gajeel, and a grumpy looking Juvia went into the section on the right, Natsu, Gray, Erza and lastly, Lucy walked into the section on the left. As soon as they walked in, a screen covered the way they had come in, blocking any means of escape.

"What's up with this, Erza? This is totally unfair. I mean, I love a good competition like the next guy, but I had stuff I wanted to do today," Natsu complained as he grudgingly sat on one of the several boxes that were in their section with them. "Like what, flame-brain," Gray asked him as he leant against the frame of the tent. At this, Natsu looked startled at being asked his plans, and hesitated to answer. Before he could, Erza, who had placed herself on top of another box nearby, interrupted their discussion. "Look, I know that some of you probably don't like the fact I joined us all into a competition without your permission-"

"You got that right," Gray interjected, already forgetting about the question he had asked Natsu.

"I did it as a favour to Jellal," Erza continued. Lucy was just about to ask the red haired mage how Jellal came into all of this, but she barely had the time to blink when both males where asking too many questions at the same time.

"What the hell has Jellal got to do with this?!"

"Wait, he isn't here, is he?"

"Where is he? I need to beat the crap out of him."

"He better not be trying to mess around with you again"

"I'm gonna-"

"SHUT IT!" Lucy yelled at the two of them, her expression easily befitting one of Erza's death glares. Both boys closed their mouths and sat down at the same time, forgetting that Lucy also had a frightening side to her, their forgetfulness evident in their expressions. Lucy exhaled a deep sigh, already feeling a headache coming because of those two, before she spoke. "So how come Jellal asked you to get us all to take part in the competition?" Lucy asked Erza as she sat down on the last box in the section.

Erza took a while, trying to formulate the best way to explain, before she spoke. "As I came back from my morning jog, I saw the signs for the competition so went to the front desk to inquire about it. On my way to the hotel, Jellal stopped me and told me about an ex-dark guild member that is on the island. Apparently Crime Sorcière has reasons to suspect that their guy is still with the guild they are trying to disband. Although they are not sure what the guild is up to, they know they have a team competing in the competition, though I'm unsure of their motive for doing this." Erza paused as she recollected her thoughts. "Jellal asked if we would keep an eye on the guild member, in case they try to do something, and so that they wouldn't get suspicious, he asked me to get us into the competition as a cover up so they don't realise what we're doing."

"How are we supposed to know who this guy is, and what dark guild is this anyway?" Gray asked, his eyes narrowed in suspiciousness at this information Jellal had given Erza. Erza pulled out a scrap of paper from her pocket and handed it to Gray. Immediately, Lucy and Natsu leant in on either side of Gray to get a closer look at paper, on which a mug shot of the person that they were to keep an eye out for. When the two did this, Lucy noticed Gray tense ever so slightly, which was weird, but she shook it off as she concentrated on the picture.

It was clear that the photo had been taken in secret, as the guy in the photo was only partially visible, a tree in inconveniently placed so that it covered the right side of his figure. Luckily the majority of his face was in view. _He looks normal enough,_ Lucy thought, _in fact, if he wasn't a criminal, I'd say he's pretty cute_. The guy had a slim, well outlined and chiselled face; his icy grey hair was full of volume, some of it sticking up in odd directions, though it looked more deliberate than messy. But what really caught Lucy's attention was his eyes; they were the deepest of icy blues, so intense and yet so gentle at the same time. The fact that Lucy felt like this about him from just a picture intrigued, yet frightened her to imagine what seeing him in real life would be like.

When Gray handed Erza the photo back, Lucy snapped out of her slight hypnotic state she had been in from looking into the guys pictured eyes. Just as Erza placed the photo back in her pocket, a member of staff appeared from behind the screen. "Fairy Tail Team A. We are starting in ten minutes. Please get changed into your team clothes, which are inside the crate marked 'clothing'", the staff member said briskly before walking back out in a snappish manner, the screen closing behind him; he was nowhere near as friendly as Uma, it seemed. Erza, who was the nearest to the crate, opened it with slight enthusiasm before dispatching clothes to each member of their team. Each of them were given a dark purple t-shirt with "Fairy Tail: Team A" written on the backs. There were also some matching hoodies, but seeing as it was such a warm day, they saw no point in wearing those, so left them in the crate.

They had barely gotten changed and settled back down when an announcer spoke through the speakers above their heads. "Competitors! The competition is to start in t-minus one minute. Please line up and face the green dot." As soon as the announcer finished speaking, a bright green dot appeared on the tent wall opposite the screen that they had come through. They had lined up, Erza at the front, Gray behind her, then Lucy, and finally Natsu bringing up the rear. Soon, the speakers began to blare a countdown. "Ten… nine… eight…" "Hurry up already," Natsu complained behind Lucy, who turned around, smirking. "What's with the creepy face Luce?" Natsu asked, noticing her stare. "Oh, nothing. I just find it funny how you can't wait to get out there, when barely ten minutes ago you were moaning about not wanting to do this. Talk about being contradicting," Lucy said grinning.

"…two…one." A bell started ringing, signalling for the tent wall where the green dot was to reel upwards, permitting the team to see the outside once more. Erza didn't wait to be told what to do, and so pursued forward. Ropes were placed on either side of them, keeping each team in their line. The sunlight momentarily blinded Lucy, but her ears were still fine to pick up the loud cheers that the audience were crying as they made their way forward. "GO NATSU! GO LUCY!" cried Happy from the sides, making Lucy smile. By the time Lucy's eyes had gotten used to the brightness, she barely managed to avoid bumping into Gray; Natsu however, who's attention was aimed at Happy, walked straight into her, causing a domino effect as Lucy fell into Gray, who then fell into Erza, making a small pile on the sand. Some audience members started laughing at them in a good hearted way, though a certain feline's sniggering was clearly audible above everyone else. Lucy glared at Happy before feeling slight coolness as the suns rays were being blocked by Natsu. Looking up, Lucy saw that Natsu had his hand out for her to take, which she did. "Watch where you're going, dummy," Gray growled as he helped Erza to her feet.

Dusting off the sand from her clothes, Lucy straightened up when a person began to speak through a microphone. Looking over to see who it was that was speaking; Lucy was a little surprised to see that it was Uma. "Alrighty! Welcome everyone to the annual Akane Resorts Summer Games! We are super delighted that you could all come today to watch the fun, thrills and entertainment that will be taking place over the next three days!"

"Three days?!" Lucy, Gray and Natsu said in synchronisation.

"Alrighty! So, for those of you who are new to the games, I will tell you the overview of what the games are about. So, this year's teams will be competing against each other in various tasks in the hopes to become the overall victors! The winners will get the wonderful prize of free passes to Akane Resort for a whole month, all expenses paid! But not only that, the winners will also be awarded 1000 jules in prize money!" At this, Lucy's eyes gleamed just a little. _My rent money will be sorted for the next year with that!_

"Each team will battle it out in various games, no two alike. Some games will require all team members, some will only require one or two, so team work is a necessity in these games. Points are awarded to not only the best team, but to the best team workers, the best use of magical skills, and the team that woos the crowd." At this, the audience started to cheer once more. _It sounds easy enough,_ Lucy thought, feeling a bit better about these games. "Buuut, there is a catch with each game, so when choosing who plays each game, make sure to remember about this, because it might just be the catch that gets you." _Okay, now that doesn't sound ominous at all_.

"Alrighty. So without further ado, let's get the games started!"

* * *

Hi guys,

I am so sorry about how long it has taken for this chapter to come out. I know I'm a terrible author. My only reason is because I'm a huge procrastinator (and it was the summer so I was busy with that, and then with college. Still that's no excuse, I know. I'M SORRY!)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's all slowly starting to fall into place. I'm still unsure of whether or not to bring in a love triangle between Gray, Lucy and Natsu, but if I do it won't be the main plot of the story, just a small thing that would probably only take up a chapter or two. If you think I should/shouldn't do this, let me know; I want to write something that you will all enjoy reading, not just something that I enjoy.

I hope you all enjoy how the story is going so far, and I promise that there will be some serious NaLu moments happening very soon!

Thank you to everyone that has already followed and favorited this story. It means a lot to me. I promise to be more productive with this story!

Alrighty! If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear from you.

See you guys next time,

AnimeTookMySoul


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